[Buddha-l] This is not meditation

[Joy Vriens]

The French psychiatrist and neurologist David Servan-Schreiber wrote a book called "Anticancer" explaining how through natural means (basically diet but not only), we can develop our natural defense systems and thus help preventing and fighting cancer. He doesn't attack in any way the clinical medical methods for fighting and healing cancer and uses them himself. In his book he describes himself as initially a young arrogant doctor, living and working in the States, who only believed in clinical medical methods and despised anything not having a familiar rational smell. As an anecdote to illustrate his pseudo-scientifical arrogance, he explains how he helped moving his future wife and stumbled on one of her spiritual books. He had a look at it and asked "Why do you bother reading this stuff?" The book in question was one written by our friend Franz Metcalf, What the Buddha taught. He was diagnosed with a tumor in the brain fifteen years ago and is still fighting his cancer. !
 It changed his outlook on life and medecin. So far this introduction.  
 
He also set up a website http://www.anticancer.fr and on it I discovered a method he teaches which he calls "Cardiac coherence" which aims to create a balanced interaction between heart and brain functions and emotions. It is quite fascinating to see how without any religious or moral associations, what this method ends up doing, including its impact on emotions, is something very much like meditation. What is achieved by monitoring heart and brain functions while breating, can also be achieved by breathing app. 20 times in 3 minutes time. The first Buddhist breathing meditations I learned were based on cycles of 21 breaths.  

The website is in French...
http://www.anticancer.fr/magazine/apprendre-coherence-cardiaque

Joy